I had a lifetime running highlight this past weekend. I ran in the Penn Relays [April 27]!

Some of the other dads from [my son] Alex’s high school team and I were watching them running last year at Penn Relays, and while watching some master’s races going on that afternoon, we said, “We could do that.”

So we started training (Sunday afternoons through the winter on an outdoor track), ran a USATF meet to hit the qualifying time, and competed in the age-50-and-over 4x400m relay Friday night. I anchored in 64.8, a bit off the 64.2 that I had done indoors to qualify, but not bad for a distance runner at age 50.

I am hoping that the track work can translate into a fast 5K at some point. I went 20:29 last month for my master’s PR, but I feel there is a little more there. We’ll see.

Excerpts from CRR Jo Baird’s Boston experience:

This year’s Boston Marathon, my third Boston and seventh marathon overall, was by far the most challenging not only physically, but mentally as well. At the start line, as we were lining up in our different corrals in my wave, they announced that these were the worst running conditions the Boston Marathon has ever seen (something I wish that they had told me after the race was over, rather than before).

During the race, there was steady rain and wind with an occasional gust that took your breath away and an occasional downpour that soaked right through your clothes. It definitely was both a physical and mental test…. Many runners still only wore shorts and a singlet, which was no match for these conditions.

Personally, I had a surprisingly good race. I started out the first four miles at a 7:04 pace…. I backed off…but checked my watch at mile eight and saw that my average had only dropped to 7:06. As we got to “Heartbreak Hill,” one guy who had been running around the same pace as I had patted me and said, “We’re in this together.” I had no idea who he was. We hadn’t said anything to each other the whole race, but it meant a lot.

Once I got to the top of the hill, where all the Boston College students were, I felt nothing but love as I looked down into Boston. The last five miles were almost a blur; as [I] got closer to Boston,…[t]he crowds were so loud you couldn’t hear yourself think, and I didn’t even feel myself increase my pace. My last mile was 6:56, because, as I turned right onto Hereford and left on Boylston, there was this indescribable feeling of emotions that I felt from conquering that day and being lifted up by my fellow runners and this amazing city.

Overall, it was a race for the books. It was one of those experiences I have no regrets doing but don’t really want to do again.

Organizer and CRR Mark Deshon is having some cause for concern that the current course is too difficult to follow, something he’d never really given much credence to before today. What with many opting to cut the loop course short for one reason or another and several “newbies” participating each year, we may need to come up with a fool-proof system for ensuring the integrity of the “Wring Out the Old, Ring in the New” trail run. The purpose was achieved, however—that is, to have fun!

…Or is it “back to the future”? Who can tell? CRR Charlie Roth looks like he’s in good form, as this past weekend he completed the Princeton Half Marathon. What’s interesting about this piece of running news is that Roth, who did his graduate work in chemical engineering at the University of Delaware more than two decades ago, had not run a half-marathon in 21 years (since Caesar Rodney in 1993), in what he calls his “previous life.”

OK, so his 1:44:03 was 22 minutes or so more than his PR, but haven’t we all lost more than a few steps in that same period of time?

Back in the early 90s, Roth was a bit of a speed merchant on Creek Road, yet he would humor some of us older CRRs by running longer distances with them on weekends, during which we could try to wear him out.

Roth reflects on this achievement:

In the early part of this year, I started incorporating a longer run into my 3x/week running. It had reached 8 miles in late spring when registration for the Princeton Half Marathon started heating up, and I figured 8 is almost 10 and 10 is almost 13, so why not try. I managed to do it while maintaining my 3x/week, 15-20 miles per week by just ramping up the long runs slowly. It was a lot of fun running in my hometown with lots of family and friends along the way. [My son] Alex even rode his bike around and saw me half a dozen times. I was just trying to be under 1:50 so was thrilled!

We are thrilled for you too. Well done.

Creek Road Runners is an informal association of runners/joggers who frequent the only quiet scenic road out of Newark, Delaware.

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